Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Facebook Meeting Could Be Just In Time

In recent weeks, I've been watching the Facebook 'privacy saga' continue, as the tech media and others continue to takes sides over Facebook's rapid switch from a somewhat 'closed' network to one that any search engine could index.

In recent weeks, I raised the subject of social media policies. Many of us work under them. Some are very strict. Others simple .... yet potent.

I have no issue with social media policies. Done right, it's a smart move by many companies.

So what's new?

In recent weeks, many companies have been re-visiting their social media policies, and, factually, many (more) are now outright blocking Facebook. In many of these cases, I have to agree. Segmented blocking by employees that shouldn't be surfing at work makes sense to me. Facebook, by its very nature, could be an outright distraction.

The buzz around all of this could be enough to push companies that now permit cellphones to ban them as well.

Facebook needs to slow down and/or provide very visible notification (and simple instructions) to users on how to share ... and more importantly ... not to share .... depending on one's situation.

If you were using Friendfeed, you knew your stuff was public (or you had very simple controls to block it).

Applying Friendfeed-like logic to Facebook was wrong. Even the bounce-to-the-top news feed change was confusing to many ... if not most users.

So, as some high-profile bloggers are closing their Facebook accounts while others are embracing the 'open' and explaining why it doesn't bother them, I for one am anxiously looking forward to what comes out of tomorrow's meeting.

Corporations and Governments around the world, I'm sure, are watching as well.